“We are just going to have dinner,” said Mrs. Hare.  “Won’t you sit down, Mr. Monkey on a Stick, and take something?  We have some nice carrots and turnips.”

“Thank you, I’ll take a little,” said the Monkey.

A little chair, made from a piece of wood gnawed out by Mr. Jack Hare, was brought up for the Monkey to sit on, and then the Rabbit family and the visitor gathered around the table and began eating.  I can not say that the little Rabbit children ate much, for they turned around so often to look at Mr. Monkey, that, half the time, they missed putting things in their mouths and dropped them on the table.

But no one minded this, and every one laughed, so there was a most jolly good time.  The lightning bugs kept on glowing, so it was not at all dark in the cave, though it would have been only for these fireflies.  Mr. and Mrs. Hare had many questions to ask Mr. Monkey on a Stick about his adventures, and he told them of the Calico Clown, the Sawdust Doll and others from the toy store, including the Candy Rabbit.

“Just fancy!” exclaimed Mrs. Hare.  “A Rabbit made of candy!  I’m glad you’re not that kind, Jack.”

“So am I,” said her husband.  “I’d be afraid, every time I jumped, that I’d break a leg or an ear, if I were made of candy.”

“Now I must show you our cave house,” said Mrs. Hare, when the meal was finished.  “We think it is very nice.”

“I’m sure it is,” returned the Monkey.

So he was taken about, and he looked at the different burrows, or rooms, in the cave house of Mr. Jack Hare.  There were rooms for the children Rabbits and rooms for Mr. and Mrs. Hare.  In each room were lightning bugs to give light, though as Mr. Hare said, they were needed only when company came that could not see well in the dark.

“We put out every light when Mr. Mole comes,” said Mrs. Hare.

“Why is that?” asked the Monkey.

“Because he has no eyes, and doesn’t need to see,” was the answer.  “He just feels and noses his way around.  All darkness is the same to him.”

“Dear me!  Well, I like a little light,” said the Monkey.  “But I think now, since I have been here quite a while, that I had better go back.  Herbert and Dick might be walking over the meadow, looking for me, for they know which way Carlo ran, with me on his back, and they often find things that are lost—­those boys do.”

“Oh, stay just a little longer,” urged Mrs. Hare.

“And tell us another story!” begged Johnnie Hare.

“Well, I will,” said the Monkey, and he did.  He told about some of the funny things that had happened in the toy store—­things I have told you children about in the other books.  And the bunny boys and girls liked the story told by the Monkey on a Stick very much indeed.

The Monkey enjoyed himself so much in the cave house of Mr. Jack Hare that he stayed longer than he intended.  It was along in the middle of the afternoon before he came out, and as the Monkey and Mr. Hare reached the outer opening of the burrow the rabbit gentleman knocked on the ground three times with his hind feet.